Monday, September 20, 2004
this is so hilarious that it's almost too good to be true. michigan readers especially will get a kick out of it. i know, i know--bush is still the 'dumb' candidate, and kerry is still the 'smart, nuanced' candidate.
In campaign game, occasional fumbles
Local flavor gets Kerry cheers, jeers
By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff | August 5, 2004
MILWAUKEE -- John F. Kerry, like many politicians, knows that a great way to win over a crowd is to celebrate its local rituals and embrace its customs. As his bus caravan travels across the country, he's making the effort anew, often to raucous cheers, but on occasion to a lesser reaction.
On Monday night, the Democratic presidential nominee noted that he was in the home state of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company, telling a crowd of 10,000, ''At home I have my Harley, so you can say that when it comes to getting from here to there, this candidate for president of the United States knows where the power comes from."
On Sunday, Kerry also worked the local angle when he visited Bowling Green, Ohio, outside Toledo. The proximity between those cities has given rise to one of the greatest local football rivalries in any state, the ''Battle of I-75" between the Bowling Green State University Falcons and the University of Toledo Rockets. Only games played by the larger Ohio State University Buckeyes can inspire pigskin unity.
Standing with his running mate, John Edwards, Kerry said, ''John and I, we're absolutely promising you, we are going to give you the courageous leadership you need. We're going to make decisions; we'll make the tough decisions. But there's one tough decision I refuse to take: I'm not choosing between the Falcons and the Rockets." As the audience cheered, Kerry said, ''I'm just going to acknowledge, without doubt, there is nothing better than the Buckeye football."
While that crowd delighted in the nod to a local favorite, not all have.
On Sunday night in Taylor, Mich., Kerry noted that he had just come from Bowling Green but apparently forgot that he had arrived in the state of the Ohio Buckeyes' most bitter rival, the University of Michigan Wolverines. The nickname of the Bowling Green team he had celebrated hours earlier also seemed to escape him.
''We just came from Bowling Green, and I was smart enough not to pick a choice between the Falcons and the, you know . . . all the other teams out there. I just go for Buckeye football, that's where I'm coming out."
As a smattering of boos alerted him to his faux pas, Kerry tried to right his wrong: ''That's while I was in Ohio. Now I'm in the state of Michigan, and your great big 'M' and a powerhouse of a team, and the bottom line is all of us are still waiting for Massachusetts to somehow get in there."
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
